1. Field of the Invention
Methods, mediums, and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to character-input. More particularly, the present invention relates to a character-input method, medium, and an apparatus for improving an intuitive attribute of a button operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
As electronic technologies develop and various home appliances are provided with more functions, the number of buttons on remote controls increases and methods of using the remote controls become complicated. Accordingly, it takes considerable time for users to understand how to use a remote control, and most users use a remote control only to control basic functions of electronic devices (e.g., to adjust the volume or change the channel). In addition, even if a user understands how to control functions of electronic devices through the remote control, if the way of operating the remote control is inconvenient or complicated, the functions of the remote control will not be fully utilized.
Because such remote controls have been generally provided to remotely control electronic devices, there has not been a high demand for technologies for inputting characters through a remote control.
However, recently, as multimedia services become diversified and network communication technologies become developed, a demand for technologies for inputting characters to home appliances is increasing. Some examples include inputting a web page address in order to connect to the Internet through a digital TV and/or establishing a two-way service between a broadcasting station and a user in digital broadcasting. In order to satisfy such demands, if buttons for inputting characters are added to a remote control or a plurality of functions are added to one button, as mentioned above, the use of the remote control can become inconvenient or complicated, which is a problem. Therefore, there is a demand for a technology that allows a user to intuitively input characters and that does not restrict a user's sight when using a remote control.
In the conventional art, an input device has been developed in which each combination of direction buttons on a key pad and different modes represent alphanumeric characters of a unique group, by pushing the direction buttons of the key pad that can be pushed in a plurality of directions and by using the key pad to switch between a first mode and a second mode. This conventional art has reduced the number of buttons. However, there is a possibility that unwanted characters or words can be inputted due to the complexity of the operations performed using the keypad, and the user cannot confirm characters or words being inputted, which is a problem.